Infant&#39;s crib



July 17, 1962 E. F. HAMILTON INFANTS CRIB Filed Jan. 14, 1960 3 Sheetspsheet 1 54 Vbo July 17, 1962 Filed Jan. 14, 1960 E. F. HAMILTON INFANT S CRIB 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 HH F.' Afin/L Torr,

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Filed Jan, 14 1960 E. F. HAMILTON 3,044,078

INFANT s @RIB 5 shetsheet 3 IN VEN ToR. 674W E* HHM/LTO@ sible sidewalls mounted on the pair of end boards.

of said sidewalls comprises a pair of rigid frame mem-- connected along a horizontal axis.

United States This invention relates to an infants crib, and more particularly to a crib having collapsible sidewalls.

It is an object of my invention -to provide a crib of attractive appearance which can be simply and economically manufactured largely from metal-tubing, which can be shipped in knocked-down condition, and which will be sturdy and rigid when erected. It is a further object of my invention to provide an infants crib having collapsible sidewalls which can be easily moved to and from a collapsed position in which they are disposed in a general plane of a mattress supported on said crib.

In accordance with my invention, there is provided a spring-supporting frame rigidly connected at each of its ends to a pair of opposed end boards extending substantially above the plane of the frame and thus closing the ends of the crib. Said frame and end boards are supported on a plurality of ground-engageable legs.

The sides of the crib are 'enclosed by a pair of collap- Each bers supporting a sheet of fabric material and pivotally The-lower of said pair of frames is retained in a xed vertical plane with respect to the end boards, and the upper of said pair of frames is swingable about its pivotal connection to the lower frame for movement between a sidewall erected position in which its horizontally extending upper end is generally coplanar with the upper ends of the end boards and a sidewall collapsed position in which said upper end is generally coplanar with said spring-supporting frame..

Conveniently, means are provided on said end boards for releasably locking said upper sidewall frame in sidewallerected position.

Other features and embodiments of my invention will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows 4and from the accompanying drawings, in

which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of an infants crib emtnt The opposed ends of the spring-supporting frame 10 are rigidly connected to a pair of end boards 20 which project slightly below, and substantially above, the plane of said frame. As shown in FIG. 2, each of the end boards 20 comprises a pair of lengths of metal-tubing bent into a generally U-shape and rigidly interconnected as by sleeves 22 to thus form a rigid peripherally extending end board frame 24. As shown in FIG. 4, la plurality of slots 26 are formed in each of the frames 24 for the reception of lugs 28 projecting outwardly from a rigid panel 30, conveniently formed of Masonite or the like. Desirably, the inwardly presented faces of the panels 30 may be covered with a pad 32 retained thereon by a fabric skin 34 encapsulating the panel 3b and the pad 32. Conveniently, in order to enhance the attractive appearance of the end boards, the encapsulating skins 34 extend over the entire surface of the panel 30 and pad 32 including the lugs 28. In mounting the panels on. the frames 24, the sections of said frames are disposed around the panels and then forced inwardly over the lugs 28, said lugs being received in the'frame slots 26. This produces a bindingV tion. As shown in FIG. 4, each of the legs 40 is co-nbodying my invention, and showing its sidewalls in erected and `collapsed positions; FIG. 2 is a side elevation in partial section of one of the sidewalls and showing its connections to the end boards;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the inwardly presented face of one of theend boards;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the spring-supporting frame-end board mounting;

FIG. 5 is a front view of one of the sidewall locks; and

FIG. 6 is a side view of the lock shown in FIG. 5.

As illustrated in the drawings, my crib is provided with a generally rectangular spring-supporting frame 1i) conveniently formed from lengths of metal-tubing. As shown in FIG. 4, the inner faces of the side members 12 of the frame 10 are slotted adjacent their ends for the reception of offset tongues 14 formed atthe ends of the end members 16 of said frame to thus hold said end and side members connected. The ends of the tongues are offset downwardly at about a 45 angle whereby upon insertion into the side' members 12,v the tongues will hold said side members rigid and keep them from twisting when the springs are mounted on the frame. Conveniently, a plurality of openings'lS are formed in each of the side and end members 12 and 16 respectively for mounting a set of springs thereon.

veniently formed from a length yof metal-tubing connected jat its upper end to one yof `the side members 12. by a bolt 42. The leg 40 is angled inwardly from its connection tothe side member 12 toward the longitudinal axis of the crib, and then downwardly for connection to the lower horizontal stretch of the end board frame 24, by a bolt 44. In this manner, the legs 40 ythus serve as a means ifor supporting :the crib and cross-braces for the connections between the end boards land the spring-v supporting frame'l.

As best shown' in FIG. 2, lthe sides of the crib are enclosed by a pair of collapsible sidewalls. Each of said sidewalls comprises an upper frame48 conveniently formed from a length of metal-tubing bent into a generally U-shape and pivotally connected to a lower frame 50 also formed from a length of metal-tubing bent into a generally- U-shape. The adjacent ends of the frames 48 and 5t? are pivotally connected as by pins 52 to thus permit said frames to be swingable with yrespect to each other on a horizontal axis. Each pair of upper and lower frames 4S and 50 supports a sheet of flexible 'fabric netting 54 conveniently mounted on said frames las .by a peripheral sleeved hem 56.

To mount each of the sidewalls on .the crib, I provide v a pair of vertically spaced headed pins 58 on each end of the lower frame 50, said pins being received in slots 60 formed in the inwardly presented faces of the end board frames 24. `Conveniently, the slots 6@ converge from top to bottom and are formed by slitting the tubing forming the frame 24 and then bending said tubingA inwardly lto provide a pair of vertically extending ears 62 extending along the opposed'sides of each of the slots 60. In this manner, the expanded heads on the pins 5S maybe inserted into said slots with the ears 62 retaining said pins in fixed longitudinal position therein but permitting said pins :to be vertically slidable in said slots for vertical sliding movement of the frame S0 with respect to lthe end boards 2t).

yin which one of the pins 64 is received. The frame 24 is recessed, as at 70, in the area behind 4the slot 66 for the reception ofthe head on the pin 64. The pin is Vreleasably retainedvin the slot 68 by a gravity actuated latch 72 -swingably mounted on the bracket 65 as by -a pivot pin 74. As shown in'FG. 5, the latch 72 is provided with an inwardly presented latch .nose 76 engageable with one of the walls of the recess 7d so that up- Wa-rd movement of the pin 64 against the latch 72 will cause said latch kto bear against the wall of the recess '70Y and thus prevent lany further upward` movement of the pin 64. However, the latch `7'2 is swingable outwardly to the dotted line position shown -in HG. 5 to permit the pin 64 to be moved upwardly and out of the slot 6,8 for unlocking the upper sidewall frame 4S from the end boa-rd. Y

Thus, each of my collapsible sidewalls is'mo'vable from itsv erected position (las shown to the right in PKG. l) in which the upper and lower frames 48 and 5@ lie in the same .vertical plane to a co-llapsed position (las yshown to the lett'in FIGql) in which .the upper sidewall frameV 48 is disposed in the same general horizontal plane as the lower sidewall frame 60. To etlect such a collapse, the latches 72 gare swung outwardly so that their noses 76 are out of the vertical plane of the pins 64. The

Yframes 48 and Sil are then raised withltheir pins sliding in the slots 69 and 68 until. the pins 64 on the upper frame 48 clear the slotsy 68 to thus permit the upper trarne tobe swung downwardly to its vfully collapsed position in which its upper horizontallyextending stretch lies iny the same horizont-al'plane as the lower stretch on the lower frame 5 0. Such collapsing movement of the upper frame 48 will thus .permit the sidewall netting V54 to be colylapsed in the manner shown to the left in FIG. l to give vaccess 4to the crib along the entire length of the crib side.

tending along the sides of the crib, each of said sidewalls comprising a pair of opposed `frames supporting a sheet ot fabric netting and pivotally connected at the collapsed position in which it Ais generally parallel lto the lower frame and in the general horizontal plane thereof.

3. In an infants crib, a spring-supporting frame mounted on -a plurality of ground-engageable legs, a pair of end boards mounted on said frame and extending substantially thereabove, a pair of collapsible sidewalls extending along the sides of the crib, each of said sidewalls comprising a lower generally U-shaped frame having a plurality of outwardly projecting members sl'idably carried in a plurality v`of vertically spacedV slots formed in the inwardly presented face of each of lsaid end boards along the lateral edges thereof, said lower frame being pivotally connected along a horizontal axis to the opposed ends of an upper generally U-shaped frame having an outwardly projecting member at each of its ends, said slots and the outwardly projecting members on the lower frames limiting the sliding movements of the sidewalls and supporting said sidewalls on the crib, and a sheet of ilexible netting mounted on said upper and lower frames, and a plurality of locks mounted on the inner faces of the end boards at the lateral edges thereof and adaptedto receive the outwardly projecting members onfsaid upper frames for releasablyy locking the sidewalls in an erected position, said sidewall frames being vertically slidable in said slots and locks :to release said upper 4frames from the locks for swinging movement into a sidewall collapsed position in which said upper frames are disposedin the general horizontal plane of the lower frames and said flexible netting Y sheets are collapsed with the major portion of the upwardiy presented. edges of said netting sheets being disposed substantially below said horizontal axis whereby the upper face of a mattress which may be disposed in said spring-supporting trarne will be disposed above the plane of said upwardly presented edges..

4, The invention as set forth in claim 3 with theV addition that the outwardly projecting members on said lower frames have expanded heads, and the end boards are provided with peripherally extending frames of metal-tubing with said slots Vbeing formed therein, said tubing extending inwardlyinto the yslots along the lateral edges. thereof to engage said expandedheadsfor slidably retaining said members in the slots.

5. The invention as set `forthin cla-irri 4, in which the upper ends of said slots have a width greater than the i widths of said expanded heads and the lower` end-s of said Vand extending substantially thereabove, a pair of cole" lapsible sidewalls mounted on said end boards and ex-V opposed ends .of saidV sidewalls on a horizontal pivotal I t axis for moving each of the sidewall-s between an erected position in which its upper horizontally extending end is disposed well above Vthe plane otsaid spring-'supporting frame and theV netting is taut Iand a. ycollapsed posi-tion in which said upper horizontally extending end is disposed adjacent the plane of said spring-supporting frame i andthe-.netting intermediate the pivotally connected .ends of s'aid ysidewall iframes sags downwardlysubs'tantially below. the plane of said pivotalaxis whereby the upwardly presented. face of -a mattress which may be supported on said'spring-supporting frame will .be disposed above the plane of asubstantial portion of thedownwardly sagging netting,and means for releasa-bly locking said sidewallsl in erected position. i

2. The invention as set forth in claim l in `which each of said 'sidewalls comprisesV upper and lower generally U-shaped frames pivotally connected at their adjacent ends at the `opposed ends .of vthe sidewall and supporting said sheet of Afabric netting, said lower frame being retained in a ixedverticalplane 'and said upper trarne being y swingable between a sidewall erected position in general vertical alignmentwith the Vlower lframe and a sidewall slots have a width smaller than the width of the heads.

6. ln an infants crib, aV generally rectangular springsupporting frame, a pair of end boardsrigidly. mounted on the opposed ends of said frame and extending above and below thev plane of saidname, aplurality o tV groundengageable legs supporting said crib, the upper end of each of said legs being connected to said ltrame along one side thereof andl to one ofthe end boards, a pairxof collapsible sidewalls mounted on said end boards and extending along the sides ofthe crib in the vertical planes of the lateral edges of said end'boards, each of said sidewalls being collapsible about a horizontal pivotal axis for moving the sidewalls between an erected position in 8. The invention as set forth in `claim l in which each of said end boards comprises a sectionedf rigid tubular frame forced inwardly varound Vthe peripheral edges of a rigid panel, said panel having a plurality of lugs received in slots formed in the inwardly presented face-of said frame and retained therein by the sectioned frame locked in an inwardly `stressed position against said panel.

9. In an infants crib, a spring-supporting frame carried in `an elevated position on a plurality of groundengageable legs, la pair of end walls projecting upwardly above said frame `at the opposite ends thereof, a pair of coll-apsible sidewalls extending yalong the sides of said crib, each of said sidewalls comprising a peripheral frame lsupporting `a sheet of flexible material, 'at least one of said sidewalls being swingably mounted on said crib for swinging movement about a horizontal axis between an extended position in which the uppermost longitudinally extending edge of said sidewall is disposed substantially above the plane of said spring-supporting fname and a collapsed position in which said longitudinally extending edge is disposed adjacent the plane of said spring-supporting frame whereby the upwardly presented face of a mattress which may be supported on said spring-supporting trame will be disposed above the plane of said longitudinally extending sidewall edge, and means adjacent the upper end of at least one of said end boards land said longitudinally extending sidewall edge releasably interconnecting said one of said end boards with said one of said .sidewalls when said one of said sidewalls is in its extended position.

References Cited in the'le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 319,137 Schulz June 2, 1885 633,353 Bacon Sept. 19, 1899 1,289,988 Whitteornb Dec. 31, 19118 2,247,598 Bohlen July 1, 1941 2,811,726 Dyett et al. Nov. 5, 1957 2,927,331 Ruiz Mar. 8, 1960 2,986,401 Altladonna May 30, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 460,709 Germany June 4, 1928 430,276 Great Britain June 17, 1935 

